New Bloods
Issue #35
The Secret Life (Kill Rock Stars)
By Emily Becker
Published: March 1st, 2008 | 1:42pm
“There comes a time / When they’ll be no light / Only night, only night, only night,” sing New Bloods on “Day After Day,” a track from the band’s debut full-length, The Secret Life. This message, which Osa Atoe, Cassia Gammill, and Adee Roberson deliver a cappella, sums up the tone of their powerful and dark, yet delicate, record.
Atoe, Gammill, and Roberson comprise New Bloods, an all-woman punk trio that formed in 2006 when the women met after each relocated to Portland, Oregon. New Bloods established a strong following in their new hometown soon after the release of a 7-inch EP on Raw Sugar Records in 2007, and they have already opened for the Gossip.
The band’s small size and lack of a guitarist work in its favor. Atoe’s violin plays lead, and the instrument’s sound gives each song unusual depth. On bass, Gammill plays melodically, holding the songs together underneath Atoe’s furious, swirling riffs. Roberson’s simple tom-heavy beat provides structure and balance. All three women sing, either speak-shouting in unison (“The Secret Life”) or using oddly pretty background vocals to balance the strength of lead (“Oh, Deadly Nightshade,” “Tree”).
The songs are haunting, yet many of the tracks are also surprisingly danceable (“Eyes,” “No. 17”). While New Bloods may share their all-female composition, use of violin, and chanting vocal style with the Raincoats, The Secret Life succeeds because Atoe, Gammill, and Roberson did not rely on predecessors for their sound; instead, they worked together to create a decidedly cohesive debut.
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